The continued development of the Internet has made possible the offering of various network services to service consumers. Typically, existing network services are operated by individual network service providers such as public companies or private companies. Each network service provider creates its own closed network, which is expensive to setup and maintain. Furthermore, network service providers often make specific commitments to their customers (i.e., consumers) by entering into Service Level Agreements (SLAs). An SLA is a contract between a network service provider and a consumer that specifies the network service provider's commitments and penalties if those commitments are not met. If the network service provider is unable to provide quality service to the level specified in the SLA, it may result in an SLA violation and adversely affect the network service provider.